Five political parties are set to receive registration from the Election Commission (EC) ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election scheduled for February next year. The EC Secretariat is expected to issue a public notice regarding the parties on Wednesday, official sources told TIMES of Bangladesh.
The parties likely to be registered are the National Citizen Party (NCP), Bangladesh Aam Janagan Party, Bangladesh Jatiya League, Jatiya Janata Party, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Shahjahan Siraj). Additionally, the Bangladesh Nejame Islam Party may obtain registration through a court order.
The Political Party Registration Committee, led by Anwarul Islam, has recommended registration following the verification process. Signatures from the chief election commissioner and other commissioners are currently being obtained before the public notice is issued.
One of the parties has approached the court seeking registration, and it may be approved in accordance with the court’s order, an election commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TIMES of Bangladesh.
On the issue, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed clarified that the registration-related documents are still under review. “The documents have not yet reached my office, so the public notice will not be issued today. Once the file comes to me, we will provide an update,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The EC, after verifying a party’s documents, issues a public notice allowing anyone to raise objections before the registration is finalised. The commission then holds hearings to resolve any disputes before issuing the registration certificate.
Ahead of the upcoming polls, the EC invited applications for party registration, receiving a total of 143 submissions. In the first round, none met the criteria and were given time to address deficiencies. While 84 parties responded, including the NCP, 62 still failed to meet the requirements, leaving the EC to review the field-level investigation reports of 22 parties.
The registration system was introduced before the 9th parliamentary election in 2008. Since then, the EC has registered 55 parties, though five had their registrations canceled later due to non-compliance or court orders. Currently, 50 parties hold EC registration.
